Connecticut General Statutes 45a-487p – Avoidance of qualified dispositions
(a) Notwithstanding any provision of the general statutes, no action of any kind, including, without limitation, an action to enforce a judgment entered by a court or other body having adjudicative authority, shall be brought at law or in equity for an attachment or other provisional remedy against property that is the subject of a qualified disposition or for avoidance of a qualified disposition, unless the action is brought pursuant to § 52-552h. In any such action, the creditor has the burden to prove each element by clear and convincing evidence.
Terms Used In Connecticut General Statutes 45a-487p
- Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
- Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
- Beneficiary: means a person that (A) has a present or future beneficial interest in a trust, vested or contingent. See Connecticut General Statutes 45a-499c
- Court: means a court of this state having jurisdiction over the matter pursuant to sections 45a-499o and 45a-499p or a court of another state having jurisdiction under the law of the other state. See Connecticut General Statutes 45a-499c
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Person: means an individual, corporation, statutory or business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, court, government, governmental subdivision, agency or instrumentality, public corporation or any other legal or commercial entity. See Connecticut General Statutes 45a-499c
- Property: means anything that may be the subject of ownership, whether real or personal and whether legal or equitable, or any interest therein. See Connecticut General Statutes 45a-499c
- Spendthrift provision: means a term of a trust that restrains both voluntary and involuntary transfer of a beneficiary's interest. See Connecticut General Statutes 45a-499c
- State: means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands or any territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, and includes an Indian tribe or band recognized by federal law or formally acknowledged by a state. See Connecticut General Statutes 45a-499c
- Trust director: means a person that is granted a power of direction by the terms of a trust to the extent the power is exercisable while the person is not serving as a trustee, provided a person is a trust director whether or not the terms of the trust refer to the person as a trust director and whether or not the person is a beneficiary or settlor of the trust. See Connecticut General Statutes 45a-499c
- Trust instrument: means any instrument executed by the settlor, including a will establishing or creating a testamentary trust, that contains terms of the trust, including any amendments thereto. See Connecticut General Statutes 45a-499c
- Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
- Trustee: includes an original, additional and successor trustee and a cotrustee. See Connecticut General Statutes 45a-499c
(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of § 52-552j, a creditor may not bring an action under subsection (a) of this section if:
(1) The creditor’s claim against the transferor arose before the qualified disposition was made, unless the action is brought within four years after the qualified disposition is made or, if later, within one year after the qualified disposition was or could reasonably have been discovered by the creditor; or
(2) The creditor’s claim against the transferor arose subsequent to the qualified disposition, unless the action is brought within four years after the qualified disposition is made.
(c) For the purposes of sections 45a-487j to 45a-487s, inclusive, a qualified disposition that is made by means of a disposition by a transferor who is a trustee shall be deemed to have been made as of the time the property that is the subject of the qualified disposition was originally transferred to the transferor, or any predecessor trustee, making the qualified disposition in a form that conforms with the requirements set forth in subdivision (10) of § 45a-487k. If a trustee of an existing trust proposes to make a qualified disposition pursuant to this subsection, but the trust would not conform to the requirements of subdivision (10) of § 45a-487k as a result of the original transferor’s nonconforming powers of appointment, upon the trustee’s delivery to the qualified trustee of an irrevocable written election to have this subsection apply to the trust, the nonconforming powers of appointment shall be deemed modified to the extent necessary to conform with the requirements of subdivision (10) of § 45a-487k. For purposes of sections 45a-487j to 45a-487s, inclusive, an irrevocable written election includes a description of the original transferor’s powers of appointment as modified together with the original transferor’s written consent to the election but no such consent of the original transferor shall be considered a disposition within the meaning of subdivision (4) of § 45a-487k.
(d) Notwithstanding any provision of the general statutes, a creditor, including a creditor whose claim arose before or after a qualified disposition, or any other person shall have only such rights with respect to a qualified disposition as are provided in this section and sections 45a-487q and 45a-487r, and no such creditor nor any other person shall have any claim or cause of action against the trustee, or trust director, as described in § 45a-487l, of a trust that is the subject of a qualified disposition, or against any person involved in the counseling, drafting, preparation, execution or funding of a trust that is the subject of a qualified disposition.
(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of the general statutes, no action of any kind, including, without limitation, an action to enforce a judgment by a court or other body having adjudicative authority, shall be brought at law or in equity against the trustee, or trust director, as described in § 45a-487l, of a trust that is the subject of the qualified disposition, or against any person involved in the counseling, drafting, preparation, execution or funding of a trust that is the subject of a qualified disposition, if, as of the date the action is brought, an action by a creditor with respect to the qualified disposition would be barred under this section.
(f) If more than one qualified disposition is made by means of the same trust instrument:
(1) The making of a subsequent qualified disposition shall be disregarded in determining whether a creditor’s claim with respect to a prior qualified disposition is extinguished as provided in subsection (b) of this section; and
(2) Any distribution to a beneficiary shall be deemed to have been made from the latest such qualified disposition.
(g) If, in any action brought against a trustee of a trust that is funded, in whole or in part, by a qualified disposition, a court takes any action whereby the court declines to apply the law of this state in determining the validity, construction or administration of the trust, or the effect of a spendthrift provision of the trust, the trustee shall immediately, upon the court’s action and without the further order of any court, cease in all respects to be a trustee of the trust and (1) a successor trustee shall thereupon succeed as trustee in accordance with the terms of the trust instrument; or (2) if the trust instrument does not provide for a successor trustee and the trust would otherwise be without a trustee, the court having jurisdiction pursuant to sections 45a-499o and 45a-499p, upon the application of any beneficiary of the trust, shall appoint a successor trustee upon such terms and conditions as it determines to be consistent with the purposes of the trust and the provisions of this section. The court shall have no continuing jurisdiction over the trust or trustee merely by reason of appointing the trustee. Upon the trustee’s ceasing to be trustee, the trustee shall have no power or authority other than to convey the trust property to the successor trustee named in the trust instrument or appointed by the court having jurisdiction in accordance with the provisions of this section.